Mom's Magic Elixir

I'm not a doctor. I just pretend to be one to my family. A touch of honey, lemon and ginger is all that it is. A spoonful of this elixir daily can be helpful for general health and allergies. When you have a cough, sore throat or cold season symptoms take a spoon of this elixir throughout your day to give yourself relief. It will surprise you as to how delicious it taste and how it magically sooths.

I met a kind woman at a gathering who brought this magical concoction to share. We chatted for a while but sadly we never exchanged names. I am so grateful to this woman for sharing this with me and now I want to share it with you. 

All it took was a taste and I knew I had to get the recipe but there really wasn't a recipe, just a guide. She was so passionate when she spoke about the health benefits of this simple mixture of raw honey, lemon and ginger. Each ingredient is packed with antioxidants and has its own healing powers that make this simple mixture not only healthy but also flavorful. If you can get raw local honey from a beekeeper (no more than 50 miles away) that's the best to help with allergies. If you can't, raw (unpasteurized) honey is the key. Lemons give your body a boost of vitamin C and the ginger is calming for your stomach. 

There’s no real recipe to make this. The list below is just a guide. I was told to just place sliced lemons and ginger in a jar and fill it with honey. The amount of ingredients is determined by each person’s individual taste.

I have made gallons of this over the years and when I started I used to slice the lemons and ginger in to circles, as I was told to do. This made it much prettier seeing the lemon rings floating in the jar, but I do it differently now for these reasons. Some lemons have lots of white bitter pith between the zest (the outer most layer of the lemon peel) and the fruit, so I cut away the pith but I do keep the zest for added lemon flavor. I also think that you get more ginger flavor when you julienne the ginger instead of just slicing it. To get the best of both, slice one of the lemons into circles to add to your bottle of elixir. 

Side note;

Everyone has a personal preference and this is the way we like our elixir. However, if you don't want bits of lemon and ginger in your spoonful of honey cut the pieces larger. Sort of like choosing orange juice with pulp or no pulp. 

Mom’s Magic Elixir

Ingredients	Pint	Quart
Raw Honey (local if possible)	1 cup	2 cups
Fresh Ginger, julienne cut	1 ounce	2 ounces (about 4 inch piece)
Fresh Large Lemons	2 large	4 large

Fill Jar half way up with honey.

Peel the zest off of the lemons with a potato peeler and add to the honey.

Cut off the white bitter pith.

Cut lemon fruit into small pieces or slices.

Remove seeds if needed and add ingredients to the jar as you cut them.

Slice ginger into thin slices. You can keep the pieces larger if you don't want bits in your spoonful of elixir. or...

Cut them into strips (julienne) for a more gingery flavor with bits in every spoonful.

Fill with more honey up to the bottom of the neck of the bottle. Cap it and shake the bottle back and forth to blend. Repeat as needed until the mix becomes liquid.

I often leave my jars on the counter for a day and up to a couple of weeks to allow the honey, lemon and ginger to liquify. Some honey's are thicker than others. Once they liquefy I put them in the fridge to keep it longer. I make about 2 - 4 quarts at a time (2 to 3 times a year) so I can share it. I have kept mine in the fridge for up to a year and I think it might even be better than the fresh made. Just a personal preference.

Enjoy. 

This is now your family's secret, not so secret Magic Elixir recipe. And don't ask me how I know this... but a spoonful or two also helps if you have a hang over.

Noting goes to waste - after you spoon up all the elixir, make tea or honey water with the ginger and lemon that's left in the jar.

I was told but never knew why we shouldn't give honey to babies under the age of 1 year. So I looked it up for this post and this is what I found.

From the web page at Mayo Clinic

Avoid giving honey — even a tiny taste — to babies under the age of 1 year. Honey can cause a rare but serious gastrointestinal condition (infant botulism) caused by exposure to Clostridium botulinum spores. Bacteria from the spores can grow and multiply in a baby's intestines, producing a dangerous toxin.